Running From the Past
by Chibichan4
Summary: Someone unexpected shows up and helps the DBZ Gang recover from Goku's death. An A/U fic rated PG-13 for some violence and death. Maybe some G/V in later chapters. R/R!! *NEW AND IMPROVED - CH 5 UP!*
1. Unexpected Visitor

A/N: Since this is an A/U fix, the characters are a little different. There's all the same main characters as in the Saiyaman and Buu Saga, except Videl. Gohan's a lot more like Vejeta due to Goku's death, and Vejeta's slightly softened up, but not by much. Pretty much everyone else is the same, except they're still hurting from Goku's death. Oh, and I changed the history a lot. At the beginning of the story, Vejeta's 43, Gohan's 21, Trunks is 9, Goten is 10, and Kora's 22. Anywho, I'm sure you're tired of reading me go on and on, so go read the story! And don't forget to review!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, no matter how many times I wish for it. It all belongs to Akira Toriyama, so don't sue me. I don't have any money, anyway. However, Kora is all MINE! ^_~  
  
  
  
Running From the Past  
  
Chapter 1: "Unexpected Visitor"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Vejeta stopped mid-punch and narrowed his eyes. He felt a new yet familiar ki coming from space. He powered down the gravity chamber and walked out, wondering how someone coming from space could be familiar. Trunks ran up to him and stared up at his father.  
  
"'Tou-san! Did you feel that?"  
  
The Saiya-jin prince rolled his eyes at the stupid question, "Of COURSE I felt it."  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
Vejeta ignored him and continued walking towards the Capsule Corporaton building. Spotting Bulma outside, he walked up to her.  
  
"Gohan just called. He and Goten are coming over right away. I assume Piccolo's on his way, too," When Vejeta just grunted at her, she continued, "...Who is it?"  
  
He forced a smirk, but inside he was more confused than confident, "...A Saiya-jin."  
  
She stared at him, shocked, "Goku??"  
  
"No, it's not Kakarott. He's dead, remember? It's someone else."  
  
"But I thought you and Goku were the only ones left..."  
  
He just gave her a confused look and walked over to a tree. He leaned against it, waiting for the rest of the Z-Senshi.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The Z-Senshi landed on the ground staring at the small *Saiya-jin* spacepod in the center of the huge crater. The door opened and a hand grasped onto the "doorway". Then the person emerged into the full daylight and weakly leaned against the side of the spacepod.  
  
Vejeta stared at the person who looked about ready to collapse. It was a girl! But there was something that bothered him even more than the fact that this was a girl Saiya-jin. She looked like the female version of him. Her hair was almost exactly like Vejeta's except that it spiked more to the back instead of sticking up. She was wearing the typical Saiya-jin outfit; black spandex suit under tank-top style armor with two side leg protectors and her tail wrapped around her waist.  
  
She looked up and froze when she saw him. Muttering something, she lifted up into the air and flew over to the group. She gracefully landed on the ground in front of the group and folded her arms, smirking.  
  
"One...two...three. One that looks human, and a green man," she added, "Wow. I thought there'd be more."  
  
Gohan glanced at Goten and realized she thought they were full- blooded Saiya-jin, "Actually--"  
  
"Who are you?" Vejeta cut off Gohan and never took his hard stare off of the strange girl. She looked at him and chuckled.  
  
"Of course," she stood up to her full height, despite how badly her body ached, "I am Kora, Saiya-jin no Oujo."  
  
Gohan raised an eyebrow and Vejeta started to get angry, "Listen, whoever-you-are. I know you're lying. I--"  
  
Now it was Vejeta's turn to get cut off as she started laughing. She shook her head and smiled, which caused Vejeta to invisibly shudder, "I don't blame you for not believing me. After all, they never told you. ...They never had a chance to tell you," She took on a distant look and the way she said it made it sound as if it was painful to talk about.  
  
"Who never told me what?"  
  
"The King and Queen... they never told you about me."  
  
"Why would my parents have any reason to tell me about you?"  
  
She sighed, irritated, "Vejeta, you're not an idiot! Use your head! You're my big brother."  
  
She stated it casually which caused Vejeta to blink at her for a few seconds, dazed. Finally, he spoke, "Big brother?! That's absurd. I have no sister." He folded his arms and slightly turned away. She stared at him like he had just punched her hard in the stomach before turning around and slumping her shoulders.  
  
"...I've searched for you my whole life... and you won't even listen... you're more like tochad* than I thought you would be," she muttered. She would've taken off into the air towards her spacepod if she hadn't felt her hand be taken and gripped tightly. She turned around and expected to see Vejeta glaring at her, but instead she saw Trunks looking up at her confused.  
  
"You're Tou-san's little sister...?" As she nodded, he went on, "But... he said only him and Goten's dad were the only ones left. Well, after Tou-san killed Nappa..."  
  
She stared up at Vejeta when she heard the comment about Nappa and saw a look of regret. However, he shook his head and went back to glaring at her. She glared back at him, "I'd love to tell you the story, but SOMEONE wouldn't want to hear it. Sorry, kiddo."  
  
Trunks ran to his father and tugged on his armor, "PLEEEAASE, Tou- san??"  
  
When Trunks' response was a cold stare, he slumped his shoulders. Kora flashed him a look of apology and began to take off again, but this time Gohan cleared his throat, catching her attention.  
  
"Please, Kora-san. Even if Vejeta's being an idiot," Vejeta stared at Gohan; it was one of the boldest comments that Gohan had ever made, "I'd still like to hear how you survived the destruction of Vejeta-sei."  
  
She shrugged and sat down, "It all started when Vejeta was four. Sochad* knew she was pregnant with me, but she also knew that Frieza was about to do something terrible and if he ever found me, I'd be taken away just like Vejeta was and transformed into a cold killing machine," she sadly glanced up at Vejeta, "So as soon as I was born, I went into hiding. As soon as I was old enough to survive without her, I was sent to a far away planet. It was common for us to send babies out to different planets with the intent that they'd one day grow up and destroy the inhabitants of the planet, so Frieza didn't even bother to check it. However, Sochad, the Queen, had such a hard time with the labor that she suddenly was on the verge of death and no one knew why except the mid-wife. The King quickly figured it out and they had a huge fight. She was so weak, yet she still tried to fight him. ...The stress on her body was too much and she died before she could even land a punch."  
  
Tears were filling her eyes as she went on, "Over the next few days the King was in such a fit of rage and sorrow that he organized a strike against Frieza. In a matter of weeks after I was born, Frieza killed him and our planet... Thankfully, I landed on a friendly planet, Alara. The Alarans took care of me and taught me. They had sections of their planet that were interested in fighting, so that's where I sparred and learned their techniques. The other sections taught me academics, art, language, stuff like that. I got stronger and grew up and everything was great... until Frieza discovered the planet. He quickly learned that it had a very rare, extremely valuable metal. The only problem, obviously, was it had inhabitants. So Frieza attacked on my 16th birthday. There was a huge war that lasted years. The Alarans were strong and very large in number, and Frieza was determined to get the planet, so neither side gave up. People around me were dying left and right. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing bodies strewn across the ground, some Frieza's men, but mostly the Alarans. It was sickening. I tried hiding and busied myself preparing my spacepod to get out of there - some of the systems had started degrading due to how long it had been sitting there, but I was discovered. I fought back, obviously, but it didn't matter. I would've been dragged to Frieza if it hadn't been for two of my closest friends. They attacked the men who had taken me, giving me a chance to escape. I got out of there and to my spacepod safely, but they...they died protecting me. I jumped in my spacepod and set a course for Earth; the Alarans had helped me locate Vejeta. I combined the Saiya-jin engine with the Alaran engine and got something even faster than Frieza's ship, so I out-ran him. Then I arrived here... only to find my only family refuses to acknowledge that I exist."  
  
Gohan, Goten, and Trunks were all wide-eyed. Vejeta's expression had softened a little, but he was still scowling. Piccolo had placed himself under a tree the moment he realized she was not an enemy. He only stuck around for the story.  
  
Vejeta turned and watched her, somehow knowing what was coming next. He was right. She stood up again and glared at the spacepod, then smirked at him, "I'm staying. Besides, I couldn't leave without seeing my big brother's mate."  
  
Vejeta muttered something and turned his back to her, which revealed something she hadn't noticed. His tail-- or lack thereof. She gasped and stared at the spot where it should be. He turned back around and glared at her, "What??"  
  
"Y...Your tail! What happened?"  
  
He scowled, "It...got cut off."  
  
Gohan smirked at Kora and whispered, "I'll tell you later."  
  
She nodded, "So, where's your mate?"  
  
"Capsule Corporation. She... can't fly or fight, so she didn't come."  
  
"A Saiya-jin who can't fly or fight?! And she's your MATE?"  
  
"She's not a Saiya-jin. She's a human..."  
  
Kora glanced at Trunks, and raised an eyebrow.  
  
~Vejeta, Saiya-jin no Ouji, having a human as a mate. This just gets weirder and weirder. ~  
  
"So if I'm the only female Saiya-jin left, whose kids are they?" she motioned towards Gohan and Goten, "The older one doesn't look old enough to have survived Vejeta-sei, and the younger one definitely wasn't there."  
  
"I'm Gohan and this is my little brother, Goten. Our mom's a human, too. Our dad..." He trailed off and looked away. Kora blinked and sighed.  
  
"Nice to meet ya, Gohan... do demi Saiya-jins get tails?"  
  
"Yes. But... I kept going Oozaru, so we cut it off."  
  
Goten looked up at his older brother, confused.  
  
"Gohan... how come I don't have a tail?"  
  
"You did. We pull it off every time it comes back."  
  
Goten stared up at him in surprise and Gohan gave him a blank look. Vejeta grunted and took off into the air towards Capsule Corporation. Kora watched him and blinked, confused. Gohan stared blankly in the direction Vejeta had blasted off in.  
  
"...His way of saying he's done talking. If you wanna meet Bulma, follow him."  
  
She nodded and took off into the air after him. Goten blasted off towards home so ChiChi wouldn't bite his head off and Gohan took off after Vejeta and Kora. Piccolo opened his eyes and grunted.  
  
-Ugh, this planet gets more and more boring each day. Maybe I'll go see if Krillen wants to spar later...- He immediately remembered a certain blonde pig-tailed toddler who had a fascination with green skin and loose capes and shook his head, -...On second thought, I'll meditate for a while.-  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Here are the Saiya-go translations:  
  
Tochad = Father  
  
Sochad = Mother  
  
Remember to REVIEW, please! 


	2. History Lesson

Running From the Past  
  
Chapter 2: "History Lesson"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kora landed on the ground behind Vejeta and glanced around at Capsule Corporation, her tail twitching behind her. Bulma came running out and gave Vejeta a confused look, then stared at Kora. Kora smirked and Bulma noted that she looked exactly like the female version of Vejeta. Vejeta walked forward and muttered something to his mate as he walked into the giant building. Bulma turned and stared at him.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
Gohan landed behind Kora and ran up to Bulma, "Hi, Bulma..."  
  
"Gohan! Did Vejeta say that she's--"  
  
Kora cleared her throat, "His little sister. Yes..."  
  
Bulma blinked several times then smiled at Kora, "C'mon in! I have to hear your story! Vejeta always said him and Go-- er, Kakarott, were the last Saiya-jins left..."  
  
"Well... TECHNICALLY, he was right..."  
  
Bulma blinked again and shook her head. She entered the Capsule Corporation building and led Kora down the many halls to the living room. Kora stared at it and rubbed her eyes.  
  
"Yeesh, how do you keep from getting lost around here??"  
  
"*I* never get lost because I grew up here. Vejeta and Trunks on the other hand..."  
  
Kora smirked as she heard Vejeta growl from the kitchen a few rooms down the hall. Bulma shook her head and muttered something about the only rooms Vejeta ever visits being the bedroom, kitchen, and gravity chamber. She blinked again as she realized everyone was gone - and in the kitchen.  
  
Sighing, she went in to join them and froze when she saw the four huge piles of food, each in front of a Saiya-jin. She sweat-dropped and went to the fridge for a salad, and froze again as she realized ALL the food was gone. Even the really healthy stuff that she bought just for her since Vejeta and Trunks hated it. Glancing over, she saw that Kora had taken all her healthy stuff and was practically inhaling it. She sighed and rolled her eyes, sitting down in the last empty chair.  
  
"When you four are done inhaling your food, I wanna hear the story."  
  
Kora barely nodded as she finished. When they were done (Trunks was still whining about being hungry but all the food was gone), Vejeta dragged Trunks back to the gravity chamber and Gohan joined them. Kora watched them leave in surprise.  
  
"They're going to train??"  
  
Bulma nodded, sighing, "They live to eat and train. They're Sai--"  
  
She froze and watched the look on Kora's face go from surprised to sad. She lowered her head, muttering just loud enough for Bulma to hear.  
  
"...I'd probably be the same as them, except that I've been living in fear of Frieza my whole life, so I force myself to relax when I can."  
  
Bulma nodded in understanding. Kora looked up, once again confused, "Hey... I've been wondering... I knew Vejeta was taken by Frieza, but I never heard how he escaped."  
  
"Hrm... a long time ago, a terrorist group released a terrible plague on Earth that killed millions. The Z Senshi found them and killed them, and then Goku... Kakarott, decided to go to Namek and use the Dragonballs to wish everyone they killed back to life--"  
  
"Dragonballs?"  
  
Bulma nodded, "If you gather seven orange magic orbs together, you can summon a giant dragon called Shenron, and he can grant you two wishes. Then, after you've made your wishes, the Dragonballs turn into orbs of stone and you can't use them for another year. There's another dragon on Namek named Porunga. He's the original dragon, so he has more power than Shenron. For example, Shenron can only bring people back once, but Porunga can bring them back as many times as he wants. Plus, Porunga grants three wishes instead of two. However, if the Nameksei-jin who created the Dragonballs dies, the Dragonballs go with him. That's why in a serious fight we try to keep Piccolo alive as long as possible."  
  
Kora nodded, still slightly confused, "So, they went to Namek for the Dragonballs..."  
  
"Goku convinced ChiChi to let Gohan go with him, and the two set off. Somehow Frieza found out about the Dragonballs and sent Vejeta to gather them up. So Goku and Vejeta met up on Namek, and Goku just barely defeated Vejeta, but he refused to kill him. So Vejeta called for help, only because he could barely walk, and instead of sending more soldiers, Frieza himself showed up, alone; he left his right-hand men Zarbon and Dodoria behind. As soon as Frieza was within 2 feet of Vejeta, he blasted him through the heart. After all, if someone could beat Vejeta, he would get rid of Vejeta and get the other person to join him. Vejeta was on death's door when Goku showed up and gave him a Sensu Bean - magical beans that heal you. Vejeta still considered Goku his enemy, but agreed to a temporary truce until Frieza was dead.  
  
"So the three of them went to face Frieza, but soon realized they were no match for him. Frieza decided to go for Gohan, to be rid of him. They all fought him, but they were just wearing themselves down. Finally, Frieza punched his hand right into Gohan's stomach and formed a huge blast, blowing him up from the inside out..." Bulma stopped here and took a deep breath, "Goku...completely lost it. He turned into a Super Saiya-jin... Goku told Vejeta to go find the Dragonballs while he kept Frieza busy, but Vejeta insisted that their truce only covered killing Frieza. Goku eventually convinced him and he took off to find the Dragonballs. Thankfully, he didn't have to look long, since he had already found four of them. In the mean-time, Goku was so over-raged that he mercilessly killed Frieza.  
  
"Then Goku joined Vejeta with the Dragonballs, but they realized that neither of them spoke Nameksei-go, so Goku told Vejeta to guard the Dragonballs while he went to find a local to help them. Vejeta agreed, amazingly, and Goku went to a nearby village to ask them if they knew how to summon the dragon. Everyone was pretty scared of them, so no one volunteered. Finally, a young Nameksei-jin named Dende came up and agreed to help him, after finding out what he wanted to use the Dragonballs for, and searching his heart to see if he was telling the truth. So Goku and Dende joined Vejeta and for their first wish they wished for everyone who was killed by the terrorist group to be brought back. On their second wish, they brought Gohan back. On the third wish, they wished for Vejeta, Goku, and Gohan to appear back on Earth here at the Capsule Corporation.  
  
"The wishes were granted and everything was back to normal... except for one thing. Piccolo... he caught the plague and was fatally ill... He hadn't died from it, so the wish didn't affect him. After some thought, Kami agreed to fuse with Piccolo so that he could help him recover. But then we realized that the Earth had no guardian and Piccolo refused to take the job, so we were kinda stuck. But then Goku remembered the Nameksei-jin, Dende. He used a trick Dende taught him called Instant Transmission to visit the planet and see if there was anyone willing to take over the job. By then, the Nameksei-jins had warmed up to him a little, but they were still kinda scared. Dende agreed to go with him, so Goku came back with the Earth's new guardian and Dende took over control of the Dragonballs.  
  
"Then a few years passed, and Piccolo recovered slowly. Vejeta had slowly formed a close bond with Goku, and we fell in love and had Trunks. Goku and ChiChi had Goten, and everything was back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be with five Saiya-jins. Then a few more years passed, and Goku came down with a fatal heart disease. He died within a few months... Vejeta forced himself not to show any sorrow, but inside he was mourning. He reached the level of SSJ2 just days after Goku died, and it was finally obvious to everyone that he cared about someone besides himself. Of course, I always knew he did, but other people doubted... Gohan had an even worse reaction than Vejeta. He locked himself in his room for months and only came out for his father's funeral, at which he stood there like a stone statue. He only just recently started coming out more often, but he still throws himself completely into training and studying. Poor kid... He also reached SSJ2 after Goku's death. So, that's the story... everyone's still healing from Goku's death, but we're doing a lot better than we used to be."  
  
Kora nodded slowly and glanced out a window, realizing that at least two and a half hours had passed. She yawned and stretched, looking at Bulma. Bulma stood up and started walking through more hallways with Kora following her. She stopped in front of a door and opened it.  
  
"You can stay here in the guest room. There's a map on the wall, and if you need any help, you can use this comlink." She stepped inside and pointed to a panel on the wall. Kora nodded and walked in, looking around. It was nicely furnished, nothing too extravagant. She walked to the bed and plopped down, looking around. Then she remembered something and blushed, looking up at Bulma.  
  
"Um... I don't have any clothes."  
  
Bulma smiled and nodded. She walked to a closet and pushed a few buttons on a panel, then opened the closet and grabbed something out of it. She handed the tank top and sweats to the Saiya-jin girl.  
  
"You can wear this for now... we'll go shopping for you tomorrow."  
  
Kora nodded and yawned. Bulma said goodnight and left. Kora looked around again and smirked. This was more than she expected. She sighed and stood up, walking to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and changed into the clothes, then collapsed in the large bed. It took a few minutes for her to get used to being in a bed instead of on the ground or in a pod, but she was too tired to worry about it and was asleep within minutes.  
  
Bulma walked back to the kitchen in the hopes of being able to rely on her chocolate stash for some food before bed. She climbed on a chair and opened a cupboard too high for Vejeta to reach unless he levitated (^_^) and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. They had even found and raided her stash. She sighed, irritated, and climbed down. She decided to just get some sleep and glanced out one of the many windows in the building. She saw the lights on in the gravity chamber and figured that they were still out there sparring. Sighing, she shook her head and went to the master bedroom to get some much-needed sleep.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
PLEASE review! I can use all the constructive criticism I can get. Just no flaming, please. 


	3. Adjusting to Earth

Running From the Past  
  
Chapter 3: "Adjusting to Earth"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kora tilted her head, trying to make sense of the map on the wall. She shook her head and sighed.  
  
-Okay, so I wander around until I get somewhere, - She poked her head out of the room and stared at the many corridors, -Forget that!-  
  
She walked to the glass doors and opened them up, stepping out on the balcony. She stretched and breathed in the cool morning air. She jumped over the side of the balcony and landed on the ground. She practiced a few kata, then stood looking up at the sky watching the sunrise.  
  
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her instincts kicked in and she spun around, slamming her fist into the person's jaw. She froze when she realized the person was Gohan. He glared slightly at her, then straightened up. Kora remembered what Bulma said about Gohan and his dad, and immediately felt a sharp twang of guilt.  
  
Gohan folded his arms, scowling, "Bulma wants us to go shopping, since we ate all her food... and we ordered pizza for breakfast, so come eat."  
  
Kora smirked and nodded, feeling her stomach growl. She followed Gohan through the building to the kitchen. She pouted when she saw there were only two large pizzas left for her. They were gone in a matter of seconds, but her hunger wasn't anywhere near satisfied. She leaned back in her chair, taking a deep breath.  
  
Vejeta walked out of a nearby room and took a moment to kick her chair, making her fall backwards. She growled and jumped up, muttering something in a different language that only one person understood. Vejeta glanced at her and simply stated something in the same language. She clenched her fist and barked something at him. Bulma raised an eyebrow and shook her head.  
  
-And I thought OUR arguments were bad...-  
  
Vejeta leaned against the wall and folded his arms, "Where'd you learn to speak Saiya-go?"  
  
She stared at him, "The Queen wasn't about to let me grow up without knowing who I am!"  
  
"What's the use? We're royalty of a dead race..." He turned around and stalked off to the gravity chamber. Kora stared at him as he walked away with a look of worry. Bulma sighed and picked up the chair. Kora looked at Bulma, not sure if she said something wrong.  
  
"Don't worry, Kora-chan... he's just a little sensitive about his past since..."  
  
"Goku died..."  
  
-Everyone's still upset over this Goku guy... Hrm... There's gotta be something I can do about this...-  
  
Bulma tapped Kora on the shoulder, "Hey, you there? It's time to go shopping."  
  
Kora cringed and nodded.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Several hours later, Bulma was dragging Kora around from store-to-store. Kora cringed at every outfit Bulma suggested.  
  
-They're all either too clingy or too revealing... how am I supposed to train in THAT?-  
  
Bulma sighed and shook her head, "You haven't even CONSIDERED anything I've suggested."  
  
Kora took a deep breath and walked up to a tight tank-top, "It's hard to concentrate on training when my shirt's sticking to me..." then she walked up to a short shirt that would show her stomach, "Vejeta blasts me, my shirt gets shredded. Then I have to worry about getting ANOTHER shirt, wasting both of our time."  
  
Bulma rolled her eyes, sighing again, "You're gonna need clothes for doing stuff besides training, Kora-chan. And why are you so picky about clingy stuff when you wear that spandex suit?"  
  
Kora scowled and pointed to a black sleeveless shirt, "I wear normal clothes while training. When you're training, you're pushing your body to go further. I wear the spandex suit under my armor when I'm in a real fight, because, normally, I'm not concentrating on pushing myself to go further, I'm concentrating on beating the bad guy. There's a difference..."  
  
Bulma shrugged and grabbed the shirt.  
  
-Once a Saiya-jin, always a Saiya-jin... oh, well.-  
  
Kora went around picking out as many shirts as she could stand and a few pairs of jeans, khakis, swishies, sweats, and shorts. Bulma bought them all and they went outside. Gohan and Trunks were completely bored sitting outside and Trunks was just about to suggest they go spar when the two girls walked out. Gohan noticed Kora's look of frustration and half- smirked.  
  
They all loaded into the aircar and headed off towards the Capsule Corporation Offices to pick up more food capsules. Bulma took Trunks in with her and left Gohan and Kora in the car. Kora scowled again and put her feet up on the dashboard, sighing. Gohan leaned back, folding his arms. He collapsed back into "thinking mode", where he ignored almost everything around him. Kora glanced back at him and her scowl slowly disappeared.  
  
-I wonder what this Goku guy was like... no one seems too eager to talk about him. Bulma pretends she's okay with talking about him, but I can hear the pain hidden in her voice every time she says his name... I wish Gohan wasn't so depressed about it.-  
  
Gohan slightly glanced up as Bulma came out of the huge building with Trunks following her holding a big box of food capsules. Gohan rolled his eyes in disgust.  
  
-Nice one, Bulma... force me into coming along because I helped eat the food and then not having me do anything...-  
  
It was a pretty quiet ride on the way home, everyone absorbed in their own thoughts except Trunks, who was playing his Gameboy Advance. Kora took a deep breath and half-smiled. It wouldn't be that bad here on Earth.  
  
-...But there's still this whole Goku thing.-  
  
She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling the wind whip past her and blow her hair around.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Oh, just so ya know... the whole Goku thing is only part of the main storyline. You'll have to wait and see the other part. It'll be coming up in the next few chapters. Review!! 


	4. Beach Trip

A/N: There's some foreign words in this chapter (some created by me), so here's what they mean:  
  
morkia = thank you (literally, many thanks)  
  
rachad = big brother  
  
akomar = I love you (among family)  
  
baka (you probably know this one, but just in case) = idiot, fool, stupid, etc.  
  
Saiya-go = Saiya-jin language  
  
  
  
Running From the Past  
  
Chapter 4: "Beach Trip"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kora stared in shock at the bikini Bulma was holding up in front of her. She folded her arms, taking on a look exactly like Vejeta.  
  
"Bulma, sister-in-law or not, I am NOT wearing that."  
  
"Kora, c'mon... don't you wanna look good?"  
  
"There's... two inches of material in that thing! I'd rather spend time with Oolong than wear that!"  
  
Bulma sighed. After Kora had settled down, they had the old crew over, introducing them to Kora. As soon as she started talking to Oolong, she grew an intense disliking of him. Now Bulma was planning a beach party and judging from Oolong and Master Roshi's obsessions, she refused to wear anything that would make them drool over her.  
  
Bulma sighed, running a hand through her hair.  
  
-Now I have two Vejeta's to deal with...-  
  
Kora scowled, looking at the various bathing suits. She sighed and pointed to one, "I'll wear that, if you insist."  
  
Bulma shrugged and grabbed it. It was dark blue with halter straps that tied behind her neck and a curved back that came just below the middle of her back. They paid for it and went home.  
  
Kora flopped on the couch and laid her arm over her eyes. When she moved her arm, she saw Bulma standing next to her, smirking.  
  
"We aren't done yet... You have to try it on."  
  
Kora made a face and got up, reluctantly following Bulma upstairs. She grabbed the bathing suit and walked in the bathroom, then walked back out wearing it with her arms folded. Bulma smirked.  
  
"You've got the perfect figure for this."  
  
"...I'm wearing shorts."  
  
"Fine... Now turn around."  
  
Kora turned around and stared at the floor, knowing Bulma would see it. The blue-haired woman blinked in surprise. Kora had a scar running from her left shoulder-blade to her right.  
  
"...The planet I lived on wasn't without its troubles. I... got caught up in a war. Someone slashed me with a sword from behind... I was 10."  
  
"10?!"  
  
"As Saiya-jin, we start our training the day we can walk. I was well- prepared to fight at 10. I just forgot to watch my back."  
  
Bulma was about to say something, but was cut off when Vejeta yelled for her from downstairs, "Well, since you'll object to anything else, I guess you're ready."  
  
Kora winced slightly and looked in a full-body mirror at herself, then turned to Bulma before she left, smiling warmly at her, "Morkia, Bulma..."  
  
With what little Saiya-go Vejeta had taught her, she understood and smiled back, "You're welcome."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kora jumped out of the aircar, running over to Gohan and Goten with Vejeta and Trunks following her. Bulma shook her head and joined ChiChi and Juuhachigou at the picnic tables.  
  
"Hey, Kora..."  
  
"Kora-san!"  
  
"Hey, Gohan. Hi, Goten!"  
  
Vejeta folded his arms impatiently, "Are we gonna spar or not?"  
  
The five Saiya-jin all nodded. Trunks and Goten flew off to a different spot and the other three switched off. They trained for about an hour, until the women yelled out that dinner was ready. Gohan, Goten, and Trunks were at the table by the time they said "Foo--". Vejeta folded his arms and smirked.  
  
"Let's go, Kaka--..." Kora looked at him and saw a brief look of pain on his face, but he quickly recovered and corrected himself, "Kora..."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
It was later that evening. Vejeta was standing on the roof looking up at the stars, Goten and Trunks were playing video games in Trunks' room, and Bulma was cleaning up from dinner. Kora floated up to the roof and looked sadly at Vejeta. He turned and frowned at her.  
  
"What's wrong with you?"  
  
"I...Is it okay...if...I ask you something...about...a painful subject...?"  
  
"...You want to know about Kakarott."  
  
Kora nodded slowly, hoping she wasn't treading on thin ice.  
  
"Kakarott was...strange. He was the strongest out of all of us... yet he could easily be entertained by children's cartoons. He hit his head as a child, so he completely forgot about his Saiya-jin heritage. He didn't even suspect anything about his tail, no matter how many people told him it was strange. It wasn't until Namek that he even knew who he was. He was born with an extraordinary power. Every Saiya-jin is born with a limit as to how powerful they will get. Once you start to reach that limit it becomes harder and harder to progress. You wouldn't know it from his ki when he was born, but he was born with a very high limit. He just kept becoming more and more powerful until the heart disease killed him. It's such an irony that the greatest warrior in the universe was killed by a disease. He had the purest heart, too. He was the best friend anyone could ever ask for..."  
  
Kora winced at the last remark, "I'm sorry, rachad*..."  
  
"Don't be... You deserve to know who he was. He was the best of all of us."  
  
They both fell silent, thinking about Goku.  
  
-Wow... Kakarott must've meant a lot to rachad... He's willing to admit that Kakarott was stronger than him. I wish I could meet him...-  
  
-Kakarott, you baka... why didn't you fight that disease.....?-  
  
Kora lay down on the roof, staring up at the stars. She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, and curled up on her side. Vejeta sat down next to her with his arms folded. They sat up there for about an hour before Vejeta picked Kora up and floated to the ground. As he was walking through the kitchen, Bulma glanced at him.  
  
She was going to ask him what they talked about when she saw the look in Vejeta's eyes. As soon as she saw it, she knew. Vejeta took Kora to her room and laid her in the bed, then went straight to the gravity chamber.  
  
Kora slightly opened one eye, half-awake, and muttered, "Akomar, rachad..."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Um... since the evil Androids thing don't happen in this universe, I suppose I should explain Juuhachigou. She was an Android, but she ran away from her creator when she realized he wanted to use her for war and Krillen found her in a forest. Then he fell in love with her and used the Dragonballs to wish her to the way she is in the Buu Saga. I guess that's it... REVIEW!! 


	5. The Nightmare Returns

A/N: Ack, I went through and re-formatted the other chapters and re- uploaded them. *wince* You can tell this is one of my earlier stories... Anywho, sorry for the LONG time between updates! For a long time I wasn't sure if I wanted to finish this, but then my parents found it and said they liked it (they're into DBZ), so I decided to finish. Anywho, since I haven't done this yet, thanks so much to all my reviewers! You guys are definitely my motivation to finish this, so keep 'em coming!  
  
  
  
Running From the Past  
  
Chapter 5: "The Nightmare Returns"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kora and Vejeta exchanged a flurry of punches and kicks. Kora found an opening and punched Vejeta in the lower jaw. He flipped backwards and fired a blast at her, which she countered with a blast of her own. The two blasts countered each other out and exploded, and they quickly went back to exchanging punches and kicks. Vejeta kicked Kora in the side, sending her flying into the ground. She slammed into it, not moving for several seconds. Then she groaned and pushed herself off the ground. She stood up and stumbled a little until she caught her balance.  
  
Vejeta floated in the air in front of her, smirking mockingly, "Had enough yet?"  
  
She glared up at him and humph'ed. He shook his head, still smirking at her.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Doesn't look like it to me," Vejeta chuckled a little and Kora barked something at him in Saiya-go. He continued, "Besides, I have yet to see any of these special techniques..."  
  
"Oh, so you wanna see special techniques, huh? Fine!"  
  
Kora held her hands out in front of her with her wrists together and her fingers fanned out and facing outwards. Small points of light formed on each of her fingers and flew at Vejeta. He smirked and prepared to dodge them, but instead of trying to hit him, they exploded as soon as they were within a few feet of him. By the time all ten exploded, a huge cloud of smoke had surrounded Vejeta. When it cleared, Kora scowled. Vejeta was nowhere to be found, and suddenly she heard a voice behind her.  
  
"Interesting... could be useful, with more training."  
  
Kora rolled her eyes and jabbed her elbow behind her, expecting it to connect with Vejeta's stomach. Instead, he caught it with his hand. He released it after he was sure she wouldn't try anything. Kora spun around and folded her arms, glaring at him.  
  
"I suppose that's supposed to be a compliment... however, there's more behind that technique. I can control each blast to be the most effective."  
  
"Show me..."  
  
Kora nodded and sent the ten blasts into the air again. Then she made four of them merge into two blades of energy, another two stopped in mid-air and then sent themselves as a beam of energy into the wall, and another four turned into four rings which could be used to either hold someone to something or surround a person to keep them from moving.  
  
Vejeta raised an eyebrow, "Nice... Got a name for it, yet?"  
  
Kora nodded slowly, "I was thinking I'd name it Juusei."  
  
"Multiple Star..." Vejeta shrugged and powered down the gravity chamber, "That's enough for today... Besides, I think Bulma wanted you..."  
  
Kora nodded and started walking towards the entrance. As soon as she opened the door, she felt a huge very familiar ki that made her collapse to her knees. She sat there, frozen, staring up at the sky. Vejeta looked up the second he felt the ki and turned to Kora. In almost no time at all, he recognized who that ki belonged to.  
  
It was Frieza, and based on how far away he was, he would be arriving in four hours.  
  
Kora leaned against the doorway breathing deeply. Vejeta walked to her and scowled, hiding his emotions behind his typical mask. He looked down at her and grunted. She broke out of her daze and glared at him. She stood up and continued glaring at him, though her look had softened a little.  
  
"Rachad... have you ever known true fear?"  
  
Vejeta scowled and decided not to start another argument, "Yes..." he couldn't stand being honest about it, so he quickly added, "...A long time ago."  
  
She nodded, knowing that he was at least worried. Then she looked back out to the sky and weakly stepped onto the grass. She folded her arms, trying to hide the fact that she was trembling.  
  
"We've got four hours... what do we do?"  
  
Vejeta's face took on a grim look, "We say our good-byes and prepare to fight."  
  
-...Prepare to die...- Vejeta scowled at his own thoughts and started heading to the Capsule Corporation building. Kora walked out to the front yard and sat in the grass, staring at the horizon.  
  
-Come ON, Kora! You're a Saiya-jin Princess. You shouldn't be scared of this guy...- she paused, then thought some more, -After all, he's only the one who's killed all you've ever cared about except for rachad.....-  
  
She closed her eyes, half-heartedly meditating.  
  
"Kora..." Her concentration was broken and she almost fell to the ground. She opened her eyes and forced a smile when she saw Gohan.  
  
"Good afternoon, Gohan... how are you?"  
  
He slightly turned away, waiting for Vejeta, "Don't bother... I felt him."  
  
"I'm just trying to keep my mind off it..."  
  
"...There's two SSJ2's here... I doubt we have much to worry about. After all, he was killed before..."  
  
"That's exactly what worries me... I know Goku killed him, so how is he here?" when Gohan shrugged, she continued, "The problem is whatever he did to survive probably also made him a lot stronger..."  
  
Gohan looked down at her and sighed, "You should go say your good-byes... you may not see them again."  
  
Kora nodded and stood up. She started walking towards the building and leaned against the doorway when she saw Vejeta saying good-bye to his family. Trunks was begging his dad to let him go, but Vejeta refused.  
  
Kora could see him swallowing his pride as he knelt down and embraced his son. Then he stood up and kissed a weeping Bulma. He turned around and glared at her, a warning not to mention what he had just done ever again.  
  
The Saiya-jin Princess nodded her head in respect. She walked up to Bulma and hugged her tightly.  
  
"Bulma-san... I'm so thankful for everything you've done."  
  
"Don't mention it... you're part of the family. ...Don't get yourself killed."  
  
Kora took on a grim look and nodded slowly. She looked down at Trunks and frowned when she saw him fuming.  
  
"Trunks-kun...?"  
  
"'Tou-san won't let me go!"  
  
"...Trunks-kun, believe me... you don't wanna be out there. I won't lie to you... we may not come back. And if we don't, Vejeta needs you to protect Bulma and the others. Okay?"  
  
"Okay, Kora-san..."  
  
"Cya, kiddo."  
  
Kora left the building and began walking towards the others. Vejeta took off into the air as soon as he saw that she was finished and Piccolo and Gohan both sighed, taking off after him, leaving Kora alone. She lowered her head and a grim thought flashed in her head.  
  
-...We can't beat him...-  
  
Shaking her head, she scowled and blasted off into the air.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Yay, I'm starting to get back into this story! The next chapter will have the battle with Frieza and believe me, this story's far from over. ^_~ Stay tune and keep reviewing! 


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